Wow, computers / the internet / technology can really be a drag sometimes. I just discovered that over half of my $20 outdoor cob oven post has gone missing from this website. I can’t find any of the content anywhere online, archived. This is the most popular post on my website, too, of course.
So I call out for help: does anyone have the text of this particular entry saved somewhere on their computer? (Of course, I don’t. Gr.)
Help!
UPDATE: It’s been found! Thanks, readers!
I was very happy to discover this video on Tony Wrench’s website the other day. It provides a little tour of Wrench’s low impact roundhouse, and Simon Dale’s new house at Lammas, in Wales.
If you’ve done any searching for beautiful natural buildings online, it’s likely you have seen Simon Dale’s original low impact woodland home. But Simon’s got limited images of his new house up, so this video gives a better impression of the design. Check out that killer big greenhouse!
Definitely very exciting to see a bit more of Tony Wrench’s and Simon Dale’s work here. These two have provided me with a lot of inspiration for my own home, and they’ve also consulted me with on some things, too. Can’t thank them enough.
Gorgeous!
Timber carriers have become one of our best tool friends during the construction of our roundwood timber frame kitchen. With a few friends and a couple of carriers, you can easily move hundreds of pounds worth of wood without straining your back.
This post is a call for help. I am seeking information, images, anything related to pier foundation design for straw bale timber frame homes.
I am specifically hoping for detailed accounts of how to construct a pier foundation of stone for a straw bale timber frame. Or even a wood pier foundation, if it’s actually possible.
We are planning to construct our new home on a pier foundation, and I cannot wrap my head completely around how to design the pier foundation, which we may use urbanite (broken concrete) to construct. I do not want the house to have ground contact, for fear of moisture wicking up into the structure. The house will likely have a pier foundation with insulated floor platform.
I am specifically interested in how far to dig down for the piers, if the stone foundation would better be continuous, or other recommendations. Any info./links are appreciated!
This is one incredibly sweet tool: the boring machine. A boring (or mortising) machine is a hand-operated drill press, usually equipped with a two inch auger bit, that allows the builder to bore holes through timber in order to make a mortise pocket.
This particular model (I forget the manufacturer) is one that Tom Cundiff brought along with him to our timber framing workshop weekend. We banged out a few mortises a lot more easily with this tool than any other could possibly do. (Of course, not including electric drills.) We value hand tools very highly and use them nearly exclusively on our construction. Needless to say, we’re going to have to seriously look into obtaining one of these…. and to think we passed one up at the local flea market last year! Ack!
Thomas recently had this awesome little peg-making setup made by a friend, and we had the opportunity to try it out last weekend during our timber frame workshop.
It’s super simple and results in very uniform pegs, as long as you have straight grain wood to use. In this case, we were hitting white oak splits through the bench.
It’s essentially a bench with a sharpened rod projecting through the top that cuts through the wood as it is driven through from above with a mallet. Once the wood is hit all the way through, you have a 1″ peg at your disposal!
Check it out!
Dave works the chisel and mallet
This past weekend, my sub-community at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage hosted a timber framing workshop weekend. The savvy Tom Cundiff of Edgeworks came out and instructed us how to design, lay out, and join roundwood timbers. It was a lot of fun, exhausting, inspiring, and definitely educational.
If you came to this website via my recent interview with Boing Boing (how to build a Hobbit House): welcome! You may be curious to learn more details about the construction of my cob house at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage. Check out these links to some of my previous posts for more information about building with cob.
Avi Solomon recently interviewed me for a bit on Boing Boing, titled Brian “Ziggy” Liloia on How To Build Your Own Hobbit House.
In the interview, I talk about my decision to build with cob, the great rewards and challenges in building your own home, the community building experience at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, and more.
If you’re new to this blog (or even if you’re not), please check it out!
p.s. Want to learn even more about how to build your own cob house? Check out The Year of Mud: Build a Cob House book!
Wow…. this was too awesome not to mention here. Today, a wild bee swarm made a home in my cob wood shed. We’ve got some empty hive boxes stored in there, and over the past week, I’ve noticed a lot of bees coming and going through the door of the shed.
And today, a great big ol’ swarm came buzzing through the village, and gathered at the entrance of the wood shed — they were moving into the hives stored inside. It was truly an amazing sight!
Hi there, I’m Ziggy. In 2008, I launched The Year of Mud while building my first natural home. This blog is a collection of personal stories and experiences building with clay, straw, and wood over the past 15+ years. A few of the things that get me fired up are natural plasters, timber framing, & Japanese architecture. Since 2012, we’ve been hosting Natural Building Workshops so you can learn essential skills to build your own natural home.
